


Many A First Date

by Lamenta



Series: Lamenta's Tumblr Scribbles [11]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anders is a doc, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, Dating Disasters, Elves, Fenris is a waiter, Fluff and Humor, Hawke is a vet, Kittens, Lamenta was a little mean to Cullen, M/M, Mages, Mages and Templars, Online Dating, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-31 12:18:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6469795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lamenta/pseuds/Lamenta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragon_Shaman and Araglas conspired against me a while ago and now I am (attempting to) doing dates gone wrong stories based on a prompt list on tumblr. Dragon, I figured it might be easier for you to follow it here so you won't miss the updates :P</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How to Save a Stranger

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dragon_Shaman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragon_Shaman/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for this chapter:  
> I’m on a really shitty blind date and you got fed up with the asshole I’m with so you dump water on their head and ask to take me on a better date. I totally accept

One hour into this ‘blind date’ and Anders already knew two things: One, he could not trust Hawke. Two, he could not trust Hawke to find someone suitable for him on online dating pages.

 

Anders knew the real mistake he’d made was letting his friends talk him into this kinda thing. “You can’t stay single forever.” “A lot of people have found their one true love on the internet!” “What can possibly go wrong?”

 

There was nothing wrong with being single. At all. Especially not when he was faced with the sort of man he usually avoided like the pest. Anders could deal with people being wary of his kind. People were wary of a lot of things – fast food places, members of the Carta, shady figures in alleyways, growling dogs, the Japanese place just down the road because the fish they served was lethal to a person’s stomach, elves and…mages.

 

Hawke had insisted Anders should not reveal in his online profile that he was a mage. Not because it was a bad thing, but because Anders had to face enough issues on a daily basis, that getting hateful emails would push things too far. Anders thought that he was a mage was _essential_ to know for whoever would actually have pity on him and agree to have a blind date.

 

Anders had pictured the worst case scenarios while getting ready for his date, earlier this evening. Picturing the worst case scenarios usually resulted in being pleasantly surprised. Usually.

 

Not this time.

 

The man on the other side of the table was a Templar. An organization of overbearing _assholes_ – in Anders’ humble opinion – who had made it their goal to openly protest against mages. What people didn’t know, people feared or even right-out hated and anyone feeling this way was welcome at the Templars. The longer he – Anders forgot his name…Cully? Curly? Charlie? – spoke, the more Anders’ fists clenched beneath the table.

 

He had tried to be understanding at first. That poor individual had no idea what it was like; he had no idea what good Anders did with his magic abilities on a daily basis; he had no idea what mages could and could not do – or would and would _not_ do. Someone had, from an early age on, filled that man’s head with ridiculous ideas.

 

Anders would have considered roasting that man’s beloved ciabatta, which he had been nibbling on since he’d entered the place; maybe even shown him some nice little magical tricks to make him see that magic was not all evil. But that man was a Templar and Anders had more than once gotten into trouble with guys like him and he didn’t really need to ruin his evening some _more_.

 

He’d let out his annoyance on Hawke instead, first thing in the morning.

 

“Our leader actually believes mages can control minds,” Cully Wully – who cared – offered, voice lowered. Several people were already giving them weird glances.

 

Anders scoffed. “That’s so fucking ridiculous,” he spat. The first thing he’d said within the past hour of endurance, with the exception of exchanging names and pleasantries. “How can you people _believe_ this kind of crap? Like, have you seen _anyone_ walk around like a zombie since we’ve sat down?” He unclenched his fists and lifted his hands, wiggling his fingers in the air. “Oh no, maybe I just turned the cook into a toad? How about you check the kitchen, Curly?”

 

“Cullen,” the man squeaked out. People were murmuring around them. Anders wasn’t quite sure whom they were routing for this moment, but this restaurant had just become one of the most uncomfortable places in the world.

 

“Cullen,” Anders addressed the man properly. “Listen, just –“

 

“You are a mage?”

 

“Just for the record, sprinkling holy water on my head does…nothing.”

 

“I agreed on a blind date with a mage.” Cullen’s eyes had the size of plates by now and Anders wondered if the man was going into shock any moment. Good thing he was a doctor.

 

“Surprise?” Anders shrugged. “If you are quite done with your diatribe, I suggest…”

 

“We Templars –“

 

 _Splash_.

 

Anders blinked at Curly – Cullen, he corrected himself – watching liquid drip down the man’s face. Cullen looked equally surprised at the sudden wetness on his head and face.

 

Slowly, Anders lifted his gaze. Behind his disaster of a blind date stood, to his surprise – an elf. He frowned at the rather grim expression on said elf’s face. He was wearing a white button up shirt and black pants. Waiter? Probably.

 

“Apologies,” the elf said and Maker, that _voice_ – Anders barely refrained from melting into a puddle. Deep, rough, like honey dripping down the blade of a knife. Sun-kissed skin and a white shock of hair. Anders had the distinct suspicion that he had seen this particular elf before. “My hand slipped.”

 

Cullen licked his lips angrily and made a face at the taste of whatever it was the waiter had emptied on his head. “ _Your_ _hand slipped_?” he repeated.

 

“I had merely meant to come here and ask you to leave, Serah,” the elf continued, voice calm and expression stoic. “You are making the other guests uncomfortable. And this gentleman here in particular” – he gestured at Anders, who blinked in response – “is a regular guest of our restaurant and you have been insulting him for a good hour now.”

 

Cullen scowled, first at the elf, then at Anders, like it was his fault the Templar had made a complete ass of himself in the middle of a well-frequented restaurant. And had the elf just lied in his favor? Anders had never been to this place before.

 

“I take it our date has come to an end?” Anders asked with a smile and indeed, his ‘date’ got up and left without another word, but not without glaring at the elf one last time.

 

As soon as Cullen was out through the door, the other guests lost interest in Anders and the waiter and continued to chat and eat, like nothing had happened. Now thirsty and no longer distracted from his wine by Cullen’s endless ranting about mages, Anders reached for his glass and sighed.

 

The elf remained standing at his table, frowning at the mage. He had rather big eyes, Anders thought, though their color was hard to guess in the dim light.

 

“Blind date. Set up by my best friend,” Anders felt compelled to reveal to the overly obliging waiter.

 

“He certainly has not chosen wisely,” the elf replied with a short nod.

 

“Nope.” Another sigh and Anders offered his savior a grateful smile. “Thank you for saving me. That was really nice of you, uh -?”

 

“Fenris.”

 

“Fenris.” Anders squinted at him. “Have I seen you before?”

  
“I sincerely doubt that.” Fenris smirked at him and Maker, that smirk was positively _wicked_. Anders would bet his favorite shirt that this elf had a lot of admirers. He counted himself among those from today on. Maybe he would even come here again, for lunch. This place wasn’t too far from his clinic. Not really. If he drove fast, he would make it here and back in time for the end of his break.

 

“My shift ends in an hour.”

 

Anders shook himself. “I’m sorry, what?”

 

“My Shift. Ends. In an hour,” Fenris repeated, looking at Anders like he was slow in the head. Well, maybe Anders was, at least this very moment and it was entirely that attractive elf’s fault. “Your meal will be delivered any moment now.”

 

“Okay?”

 

“If you have no other plans, and I suspect you don’t, I would take you on a proper date afterwards.”

 

Anders wordlessly pointed a finger at Fenris, then himself – and back at that mysterious terrible-blind-date-interrupting waiter. “You and me?” he asked.

 

Finally, that stoic mask slipped and Fenris frowned, suddenly not looking too sure of himself anymore. “If you have scruples…?”

 

“No!” Anders exclaimed, hands waving. “No, no, I just…really? Just like that?”

  
“What, you can agree to meet a complete stranger over the internet, but when someone right in front of you asks, you have second thoughts?” Fenris scoffed.

 

“No one has directly asked me out since college.”

 

A pair of black eyebrows shot up in surprise and Anders was distracted by the fact that they were black, while the elf’s hair was _white_. He had known this elf for maybe five minutes flat and he was an enigma Anders was itching to unravel.

 

“Yeah, my life is that sad,” Anders confirmed. “If it weren’t, I wouldn’t have tried internet dating.”

 

Fenris huffed, mouth quirking into an amused smile. “A tragedy, for certain,” he agreed. “In an hour. I will be on time.”

 

Anders nodded – maybe a little too enthusiastically. “In an hour. Gotcha. Oh and – since that disaster of a blind date is gone, can I possible switch my order?”


	2. Of Tiled Floors, Fur and Best Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt for this chapter:  
> First date ended up just being us taking care of a box of kittens I found on the way to your place.

Fenris usually had a plan whenever he went on a date. First, he’d take his date somewhere entertaining. He liked people who had an honest laugh and a good sense of humor. If he decided that yes, his date possessed both, he took them somewhere more quiet and intimate, a nice dinner place he knew for example.

 

He never took them home on the first date and neither did he accept an invitation to come inside, should he happen to drop them off at their place instead. Fenris believed he had more class than this and if he looked to get laid, there were easier and less time-consuming ways to achieve that.

 

Tonight, he instead found himself sitting cross-legged on a tiled floor, a fluffy towel and two half-asleep kittens in his lap. His lower back ached and Fenris wondered if the cold floor would give him a bladder infection anytime soon. Next to him, Anders was gazing at yet another two kittens wrapped in a fluffy towel, both of them fast asleep, while the ones in Fenris’ lap continued to squirm and chew on their towel.

 

“I thought you were a people’s doctor,” Fenris murmured as he glanced around what was very much a vet clinic. The damp cardbox they’d found the kittens in was still on the examination table. The chemical smells had almost driven Fenris out of the place as soon as he’d entered it, but he barely smelled them anymore. Someone had plastered any free spot on the walls with photographs of one very silly-looking mabari. Anders didn’t particularly strike him as a dog person. Not after the past hour. Or more. Fenris seemed to have lost all sense of time along with his good mood.

 

“Oh, I am,” Anders mumbled. “This place belongs to a friend. He gave me a key a while back. I help him out sometimes.” He paused. “Wait, how do you know I am a doctor?”

 

Fenris shrugged. “I overheard that Templar guy say as much.”

 

“Were you eavesdropping on us?” Anders looked something between amused and appalled.

 

“Only because I was trying to find out how he managed to make you look sour within the first five minutes of your blind date,” Fenris said defensively.

 

Anders chuckled softly, which disturbed the sleeping kittens in his lap. One squirmed, the other gave a heartfelt yawn and Fenris found himself fascinated by the completely tiny, toothless snout for a moment. His gaze travelled along Anders’ tall, lean form and Fenris smiled when he saw the huge wine stain on the other man’s shirt.

 

True to his word, Fenris had been right on time to pick Anders up at his table. The blond must have been lost in thought, that Fenris addressing him had spooked Anders bad enough he’d spilled his wine all over his shirt. Agreeing that Anders could not go out with Fenris looking like a complete mess, they had decided to stop at the mage’s place first so he could change shirts. Fenris had been surprised to learn that the blond lived only three blocks away from his workplace and yet, their paths hadn’t crossed once until tonight.

 

They never made it to Anders’ place. Fenris had tripped over a cardbox as they had rounded a corner, almost falling on it and crushing the four tiny kittens that someone had simply left there. A regular problem in Kirkwall, Fenris knew. The dumpsters behind the restaurant were frequented by strays looking for leftovers.

 

He had honestly planned to just leave them there. The street was busy at all hours of the day and someone would take mercy on them and take them home or drop them off at the next shelter. Fenris wasn’t even particularly fond of animals in general.

 

It had been Anders, unable to part with the cardbox.

 

Fenris couldn’t remember where Anders had led them. He didn’t know which part of Kirkwall they were currently in. All he had done, instinctively, was carry the box and follow the mage wherever he went, all because of that heartbroken look on Anders’ face. He hadn’t voiced a complaint once, not when Anders had made him feed the tiny balls of fur, not when he’d instructed Fenris to wrap two of them in a towel so they’d warm up. The kittens had been shivering and looking miserable and the more miserable they looked, the more Anders did, too.

 

And here they were, babysitting four abandoned kittens instead of being on the promised date.

 

“Things did not go according to plan tonight,” Fenris stated dryly.

 

“I guess not,” Anders agreed quietly as he rearranged the kittens and wrapped them into the towel again. A barely audible sigh and Fenris frowned as he glanced at the blond. “I’m sorry,” Anders murmured. “I just…it’s alright if you want to leave. You wanted to go on a date and instead, I dragged you here. Surely not your idea of a fun night.”

 

“I didn’t say I wanted to leave.”

 

“It must be late.”

 

Fenris’ frown deepened. “Why so subdued, all of a sudden?” he asked.

 

“Because I went out on a blind date that couldn’t have gone worse and then this perfectly nice, attractive man promises to make the evening better. And instead of letting myself be taken out, I rescue a box of kittens and am boring you to death,” Anders said. “And you can admit it, it’s fine. I know. And I am sorry.”

 

Fenris chuckled. “A perfectly nice, attractive man?”

 

“I don’t get asked out every day. I believe I told you so.”

 

The elf hummed thoughtfully and shifted in hope to relieve some of the tension in his lower back without waking the finally asleep kittens. Fenris had no idea how Anders had managed to sit in the same position over the same amount of time as him and not moved once yet. His back had to be killing him. “You know where I usually take my dates?” he asked.

 

“Sounds like you go on dates a lot,” Anders murmured.

 

Fenris rolled his eyes. “I like people with a good sense of humor and a warm, honest smile.”

 

Anders pursed his lips. “Maker, then you shouldn’t have asked _me_ out. But do continue.”

 

“I take them someplace entertaining. I was thinking of a variety show for us, since I got tickets only a few days ago. It’s the best way to find out if someone possesses both.” Fenris sighed when his back relaxed a fraction. It would do for the next half or so hour. “The first and only time you really smiled tonight was while you fed the kittens. And it was a very warm smile. It suits you well, too, you should smile like that more often.”

 

“Did I pass your smiling test then?” Anders teased half-heartedly.

 

“You’re too hard on yourself,” Fenris observed. “So a perfectly nice, attractive man asked you out and instead, you find yourself and said nice, attractive man taking care of a box of abandoned kittens somewhere in Kirkwall. You sit there feeling sorry for yourself, but you’re ignoring one very important fact.”

 

Anders’ lips quirked upward and Fenris found his own did the same at the sight. “Which is?” the mage asked gently.

 

“That perfectly nice, attractive man is still _here_. If he couldn’t care less about babysitting a box of kittens with you, he would have left hours ago.”

 

Fenris didn’t consider himself the kind of person who could successfully cheer someone else up, so Anders’ laughter surprised him. He watched the blond’s face brighten up and it made him – happy?

 

“You must be a very special perfectly nice and attractive man,” Anders chuckled.

 

Fenris harrumphed when he felt a faint blush creep into his cheeks. In his lap, the kittens were squirming even more than before, disturbed by Anders’ laughter echoing in the otherwise dead silent vet clinic. He cupped his hands around the pair to prevent them from rolling off his lap, his eyes slowly growing heavy. It had indeed to be late.

 

“Why did you do it? Ask me out, I mean. It’s not like I was on my best behavior at the restaurant.”

 

The elf snorted. “Understandably. I bet you get a lot of shit for being a mage.”

 

“I bet you get a lot of shit for being an elf, too.”

 

Fenris glanced at the mage. “Not from you, though.”

 

Anders shrugged. “I believe the Maker had a reason for creating different races. Or, you know, whatever deity the elves still believe in. We should embrace it, not hate it. Besides, elves look more kindly upon us mages than the rest of the world does.”

 

“’Tis true,” Fenris agreed with a nod. “Though I can understand why people are wary of mages…you are…unworldly creatures, if I may say so.”

 

“Unwordly?” Anders wrinkled his nose. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to put it. Except mages can be found among any race, except for dwarves. I believe there’s a reason we exist. I wish people would pause to think about it.”

 

“From what I know, there are hundreds of books by people who have philosophied about mages and their existence.”

 

Anders snorted and offered Fenris a grin. “In case we give this dating thing another chance, I suggest you don’t try to discuss mages and their existence with me. I go rabid. Or so I heard.”

 

“Duly noted.”

 

The door to the clinic opened and the two men on the floor flinched simultaneously. Fenris almost lost his hold on the squirming kittens and was saved by Anders quickly placing one large hand on his upper thigh. The heat of the other man’s body seeped into his skin and Fenris suppressed a shiver.

 

A man stumbled into the clinic, ridiculously tall and even more ridiculously broad, followed by a sniffing mabari. He wore a pijama, Fenris noted, and had merely thrown on a coat and a pair of terribly worn out sneakers. Dark brown eyes gazed at the couple on the floor curiously.

 

“Hi, Hawke,” Anders greeted the stranger tiredly.

 

“Sweet Maker, when the neighbors called and said there was light in the clinic, I feared the worst,” the giant wheezed and slumped against the doorframe. “I told you to give me a call when you go here, so they won’t ring me out of bed.”

 

Anders looked sheepish and nodded at the kittens in their laps. “Bit of an emergency here.”

 

“D’awww,” Hawke cooed. “Where did you find them?”

 

“Couple blocks from here.”

 

“Understatement,” Fenris muttered under his breath and found himself eyed by Hawke. “Good evening.”

 

“That’s not the guy you had your blind date with,” Hawke stated dumbly.

 

“No, thank the Maker, he’s not,” Anders replied sourly. “This is Fenris. Fenris, this is my best friend and greatest pain in the ass, Garrett Hawke.”

 

Fenris glanced at the mage next to him. “The one who set you up for that blind date?”

 

“The one who set me up for the blind date,” Anders confirmed. “Speaking of…Hawke, you got as long as I need to put the kittens somewhere safe for the night,” the mage told their visitor while he slowly got to his feet. His stiff movements told Fenris that sitting on the cold floor for hours had affected Anders as much as it had him – the mage was merely better at masking it.

 

“To do what?” Hawke asked, brows furrowed.

 

“Run. Because I’m going to kill you. Or, at the very least, set your ass on fire.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on [tumblr](http://lamentaslair.tumblr.com/).


End file.
